The formation of souls is a major responsibility of the Christian church—lives formed by the Holy Spirit “to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). But by and large, it is a neglected responsability.

“The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”

It doesn’t matter how much a church may say that she is being missional; she is not fully missional in the biblical sense if she is not pursuing mission at home (traditionally called evangelism) among her native reached people as well as being an engaged sender in support of missionaries to the unreached.